the observatory

while films getting louder and bolder with outrageous CGI in order to make numb our senses, Wim Wenders gave us a masterclass on contemplation, contentment, structure and commitment. Perfect Days is a quiet film, anchored masterfully by Kōji Hashimoto.     With our local teledrama, the producers here are addicted with glorifying empty material wealth, the plot will focus entirely on love and conflict, against the backdrop consists of out of reach relatives of T20, unrealistic furniture showroom, the drama need 50 episodes ensure the protagonist reach into the very end of the tunnel. Dont worry, any single episode will take away all your precious IQ. Perfect Days was shot only for 17 days, the screenplay took only 3 weeks, Wim Wenders goes zen and full analogue mode in giving us a space to glimpse of a toilet worker named Hirayama. Toilet worker ok, not a Yakuza or a retired assassin.   Those forgettable quaint moments, reflections and observations is the main highl...

after years dedicating myself to various humanitarian missions, i decided to take a complete break from it ( maybe or partially taken a toll to my health ), it took me awhile to see where im going next. As i'm so used of seeing visuals consists of destruction, flood, mud, mineral waters and sick people - my mind peel the hidden meaning and lessons behind it.  been called Abang Alonso   Sure the disaster was miserable and unspeakable - if we look again, we Malaysians bound together stronger when disaster happens. We turned united, the disaster call center ( which turn into our home base ) is filled with donations and yes food supplies.    once a Bangladeshi with his motorbike came in to sell his ice-cream, together we purchase everything ( except him and his bike ). All the volunteers in the center took a break to finish their Cornetto. Packs of rice, sugar, tea, chicken ( etc ) piled up so high, coffee served 24/7, we are linked with laughter and true enough its har...

Long before Disney wreaking havoc in the box office, Sony actually did something good with X2 and Spider-Man. The geeks and freaks in us still in the dire need of a good film ( adapted ) from the comic book. 2004, Guillermo del Toro and Ron Pearlman gave us Hellboy. The first film ( mind you the characters especially Ivan Klimatovich ( The Dead Commie ) hit all the right buttons and gears, we got to see Big Red ( extra credit to Johann Kraus ) goes for a bigger adventure in The Golden Army then dissipated as the world paid attention to Nolan's seminal masterpiece The Dark Knight.  Forget the useless, meaningless and dissapointing 2019 reboot.  Here's my Lego rendition of Hellboy's Samaritan and of course The Big Baby.     

Until August is a novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, published posthumously in March 2024. Anyway, it tells about Ana Magdalena Bach who lives happily with her husband of 27 years.  Despite this, she takes a ferry every August to the island where her mother is buried, and every August takes a new lover.  as social media goes on fire when this photo goes up. same issue when our former Foreign Affairs minister uploaded his photo in the social media. https://theobservatoryanderson78.blogspot.com/2020/05/foreign-affairs.html  

Ethnicity has been defined as: "the social group a person belongs to, and either identifies with or is identified with by others, as a result of a mix of cultural and other factors including language, diet, religion, ancestry and physical features traditionally associated with race". Based on data Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2020 (DOSM), we have more than 300 group of ethnics which formed  200 language, culture, ritual, belief system and lifestyle which add colors to Malaysia.  Related Post https://theobservatoryanderson78.blogspot.com/2024/03/ali-ah-chong-dan-muthusamy-20.html   https://theobservatoryanderson78.blogspot.com/2018/08/colorful-language.html    

how do you feel when your script was rejected countless of times ( 44 times to be exact ), you feel heartbreak, beyond disappointment, reaching unto the edge of pointless return. Talking about heartbreak, its not about relationships - its about your creative work.    but then again, its all about time and persistence. Universe will shed her light unto the written destiny. The script is called Back To The Future. As all film studios scrambling to rehash, milking away it's shelf life with dumb reboots, i simply glad to know the owners of the trilogy will never approve until they die.  say whatever you want, the trilogy hold it's gold standard - way even better than the original Star Wars trilogy. Unlike how we see the sophisticated Empire with her technology and massive army taken down by furry animals worshiping C3P0, we wave goodby to Doc Brown in the final frame of Part III.  Even though he asked Marty to destroy the Time Machine. Even though he can repay back Buffo...

The world of pop culture changed forever when Ridley Scott combine horror, claustrophobia, isolation and space with his seminal 1979 Alien. The horror genre immersion was amplified with our gonzo grizzly TV coupled with the low VHS resolution. apparently 4K took all this magic and sentiments away.  How to top an original scream in space fest?  Bring in a former truck driver ( who attended night class to learn film ), goes by the name of James Cameron, who knows how to draw - kicking in and at the same time putting the franchise unto a higher echelon. Neca knows how to take my money. James's concept drawing for the Smartgun James Cameron's final showdown concept drawing   We got Aliens.  Throw in a bunch of Colonial Marines, a kid and a Power Loader unto LV426, we got an instant re-watchable classic. A film that made my dad glued to the TV screen right to the ending credits, this macho film led by a powerful female lead contain so many memorable corn bread. Seriously ...

"You can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours........."Give cinema some respect"  - Martin Scorsese   Clocking in for 3 hours and 26 minutes, Martin ( 81 years old ) 26th feature film will hook you with a damn fine storytelling, with slow witted Leonardo De Niro and shrewd Rovert De Niro, we witness one of the most inhuman act of greed. Forget autistic Tik Tok fast cuts, jittery cameras, explosives and endless color blind CGI stunts, the film present us a brilliant satisfying cinematography on the largest canvas. The film gave absolute justice to David Grann's book "Killers of the Flower Moon,"in which took a decade to produce. The Osage Nation forced to flee from their homelands by the US Government, fate shed some luck unto them as they found oil and became insanely wealthy. Known as ‘Reign of Terror’- the plot focused on Osage Indian murders in the 1920's, a complex plot was hatched to eliminate the Osage inheritors on a ...

Oh Malaysiaku. Our blessed land consists of 33.2 Million population. ( not to forget the undocumented immigrant population )  Our favorite unanswered question is “what’s for lunch?” From Yong Tau Foo to Nasi Campur to Ais Batu Kacang to Sushi and endless offering yet we struggling to find the right meal to fill in our stomachs. Options are so far and wide. From banana leave rice to chicken rice, our food vocabulary consists is so colorful than any Shield Weatherbond color template. As recycled old politicians trying to make the racial divisions wider, arguments and triggered with Bak Kut Teh, we the rakyat honestly and seriously can’t be bothered with this. Mind you - we turned nationalistic, stand united to ensure to defend our tasty meal when any “First World” Singaporeans claiming their Chicken Rice are better than us, in a badminton or in a football game. Gan’s latest adventure will bring you straight to home, transform you immediately into a Malaysian immediately whe...